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Movie promotions are reaching new heights ranging from early advertisements like 'Shooting starts today', 'shooting in progress', 'A Diwali/Pongal release', followed by sneak previews in talk shows on TV, Audio launch in an FM radio or abroad, release of teasers/trailers, One single track release, the hero visiting different places and malls for promoting his movie and what not. What they call all this as pre-release promotions are all followed up by post release promos nowadays like a movie, hours after its release comes with a tagline ‘Running Successfully’, Himalayan Success etc.,.that borders the unbelievable! Again talk shows, chat shows, dial-ins with the actors and director, movie reviews etc., take care of sustaining the hype that was created much before the release of a movie.

Recently, Shah Rukh had to rope in our Superstar for promoting his movie down south, but his character as a South Indian did not strike well with the audience. There was a satirical show in a news channel recently that portrayed Shah Rukh promoting his movie wherever possible even in a Formula 1 track and alas he even takes over this show to promote Ra 1. So what happens when there are too many promotional mediums operating before a movie’s release? It gives the same feeling when you end up eating and getting sweets, sweets and more sweets at home, from friends or neighbors on a Diwali day. You feel you no longer need them or is it different?

Take for example Endhiran which was touted to be a definite blockbuster, given the star and brand power but the fear of failure somewhere prompted even our Superstar to promote his songs. Definitely, that probability of success or failure is what makes producers, directors or stars to over-promote their movies sometimes. All said and done, one question that remains is “Shouldn’t films do the talking too? Meaning, what happens to the content of the movie? Take a few recent hits like ‘Engeyum Eppodhum’ or Ko though they were nothing short of the promotional attempts compared to other movies, still the movie did its part of promotion, and when you say the movie, it means the audience who promote the movie by word-of-mouth or voice their opinions and reviews online. Thus, a good storyline, technicalities and star cast add to a movie’s brand in a big way but still promotions have to happen, in this competitive trend. But somewhere it should not be like too much of sweets on a Diwali day and there is an increasing feeling if certain movies are doing just that!